六月 14, 2013 | North America: Wisconsin

By Christina Harris

Special Olympics Wisconsin (SOWI) athlete, Daniel Janulewicz, 22, is like many young men his age. He’s a baseball junkie, a basketball fanatic, a team player, and doesn’t make medical appointments a priority.
Nearly five years had passed since Daniel booked his last appointment with the optometrist. But, when Daniel’s coach took the team to see volunteer medical professionals at Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® at the SOWI State Indoor Sports Tournament between basketball games, he was right behind them.
And it may have saved Daniel's sight. When Daniel visited Special Olympics-Lions Clubs International Opening Eyes, the volunteer medical professionals discovered a rare anomaly in both his eyes called keratoconus. This is a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve.